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Buster Hein - page 81

Apple VP Lisa Jackson joins federal committee overseeing automation

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Jackson
Lisa Jackson presenting at an Apple keynote.
Photo: Apple

The U.S. Department of Transportation revealed that it has established a new advisory committee that will make recommendations in the field of automation.

Apple’s VP of environment and policy, Lisa Jackson, will be one of the committee’s 25 members that will work on some of the most important issues facing transportation, including self-driving cars.

The real reason iPhone didn’t inherit iPod’s click-wheel UI

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iPhonealternate
Yep, this is how the iPhone could have looked -- had project P1 taken off.
Photo: Apple

Former Apple VP Tony Fadell has dispelled the popular rumor that Apple had two rival teams working on different user interfaces for the first prototype iPhone.

Video of two prototype operating system builds for the original iPhone surfaced this week as Apple celebrated the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. One of the UIs proposed adopted the iPod’s click wheel interface and, according to Fadell, it actually worked really well.

There was just one problem: It sucked at making calls.

Apple’s spaceship campus gets closer to launch in latest drone vid

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Landscaping on Apple's HQ is still underway.
Landscaping on Apple's HQ is still underway.
Photo: Matthew Roberts/YouTube

Cupertino has been soaked with rain the last few days which has made construction on Apple’s spaceship campus messy work in the latest drone video showing the headquarter’s progress.

Smaller structures are starting to take shape inside the infinite loop, while construction of the solar roof is about 65% complete. The first of hundreds of large trees have finally brought in as landscaping continues on the property. Crews have nearly finished burying the main tunnel to the parking lots which are now starting to be used.

Check out all the details:

Apple loses another key employee to Tesla

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Tesla
Tesla is siphoning engineering talent from Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The battle between Apple and Tesla to attract top talent revved up to a new level this week after another key employee for the iPhone-maker defected to Elon Musk’s auto company.

Matt Casebolt, who made key contributions to the design of the original MacBook Air, has reportedly left the company to work as an engineer for Tesla.

Nope, Apple won’t manufacture servers at AZ center

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court order iCloud access
Apple isn't making iCloud servers in the US.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple says it has no plans to manufacture high-tech servers in the USA, despite a recent report claiming the iPhone-maker applied for permission to do “high-tech manufacturing” at its site in Mesa, Arizona.

The Mesa center was previously the home of Apple’s ex-sapphire supplier that went bankrupt in 2014. Instead of seeking permission to manufacture on the site, Apple clarified that it is actually just applying to renew the original Foreign Trade-Zone status of the location that brings some big tax benefits.

The guy that invented Swift leaves Apple for Tesla

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Apple wants everyone to learn to code in Swift.
Apple wants everyone to learn to code in Swift.
Photo: Apple

Apple will soon lose the veteran coder who helped make Swift one of the fastest-growing computer languages in the world.

Chris Lattner, who has worked as Apple’s director of developer tools for the past few years, revealed today that he is leaving the company to join Tesla.

Why Consumer Reports’ MacBook Pro battery tests were wrong

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MacBook
The new MacBook Pro has great battery life.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The new MacBook Pro is set to receive a “recommended” rating from Consumer Reports after working with Apple to discover why tests showed the laptops suffered from unreliable battery performance.

The culprits? A hidden Safari setting and “an obscure and intermittent” bug.

Apple’s Carpool Karaoke show will roll with a new host each episode

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Carpool Karaoke
Missy and Michelle be puttin' it down in Carpool Karaoke.
Photo: CBS Studios

Instead of having a single host, Apple’s upcoming TV show Carpool Karaoke will put someone new in the driver’s seat each episode.

The company also plans to add more interview elements to the show, which was created by Late Late Show host James Corden. The show will pair different musicians and celebrities for each of the first 16 episodes during Season 1.

Apple drops first new beta updates of 2017

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iOS 10 is awesome — but is it enough?
A new iOS 10 beta is here.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The first big batch of beta updates of 2017 have finally arrived from Apple, bringing developers a slew of bug fixes and performance improvements on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Apple’s betas come nearly three weeks after the last batch of updates. The new software updates includes the third betas for iOS 10.2.1, macOS 10.12.3, tvOS 10.1.1 and watchOS 3.1.3.

This is the iPod-style UI originally built for iPhone

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Good thing Apple didn't ship this.
Good thing Apple didn't ship this.
Photo: Sonny Dickson

The original iPhone nearly came with a digital click wheel that mimicked the iPod’s interface, according to video of an alleged prototype running the software that has not previously been made public.

Former Apple engineers confirmed in the past that Apple created a click-wheel-based solution for the iPhone’s software during the early stages of development, but until now, no one outside Apple had seen what it looked like.

While Apple goes thin, Windows PCs go fat at CES 2017

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Need extra ports? Have fun lugging this beast around.
Need extra ports? Have fun lugging this beast around.
Photo: Acer

CES2017 Apple got some serious flak from fans when it unveiled its new MacBook Pro at the end of 2016, but if CES 2017 is any indicator, Apple’s not in danger of being out innovated by PCs anytime soon.

The MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar may not be a phenomenal innovation. And its four USB-C ports mean you’ll need some dongles. But when looking at the competition, the MacBook Pro is hands-down the sleekest, most useful and most beautiful laptop you can get in the world right now.

Look at these embarrassing Windows laptops:

Apple execs pay dearly for 2016’s failures

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Tim Cook
Apple named in another top tech list.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook received less pay in 2016 as a result of the company missing revenue and profit goals.

In a new filing with the SEC, Apple revealed that other top executives also got less compensation for 2016 as well. Cook only took home $8.7 million last year after being paid $10.2 million in in 2015.

Track how drunk you are with this Apple Watch accessory

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The BACtrack Skyn puts a blood-alcohol sensor on your wrist.
The BACtrack Skyn puts a blood-alcohol sensor on your wrist.
Photo: BACtrack

Getting a reading of your blood-alcohol content levels is about to become as easy as glancing at your Apple Watch.

The first-ever wearable alcohol monitor made its debut at CES in Las Vegas this week, giving drinkers a new option for keeping track of whether or not they’re fit to get behind the wheel.

Sennheiser’s new earbuds let you record 3D audio on your iPhone

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These headphones record audio in 3D.
These headphones record audio in 3D.
Photo: Sennheiser

CES2017 At a time when most headphone manufacturers are embracing the wireless earbuds, Sennheiser has decided to unveil one of the smartest pairs of wired earbuds ever created.

Yes, you can listen to your tunes on the new AMBEO Smart Surround earphones and the music will sound great. But what sets the new buds apart from every other pair debuting at CES is these ones come with the ability to record 3D audio using only your iPhone.

Apple yanks The New York Times apps in China

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China iPhone sales
Apple's relationship with China is complicated.
Photo: Apple

iPhone users in China are no longer able to download the app for the most popular newspaper publisher in the U.S.

Chinese government officials reportedly demanded that Apple remove all of The New York Times apps from the App Store in China, blocking access to one of the few channels the paper has to reach readers in mainland China.

Apple invests $1 billion in world’s biggest tech fund

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tim cook in a car
Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing last year.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

Apple confirmed today that is getting into the venture capital game by investing in one of the world’s largest tech funds.

SoftBank’s new Vision Fund received $1 billion from Apple, according to a company spokesperson that revealed the company is investing in the $100 billion fund to gain access to future technology.

Sleek iPhone 7 case puts the headphone jack back where it should be

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The biggest problem with the iPhone 7 has been solved.
The biggest problem with the iPhone 7 has been solved.
Photo: Incipio

CES2017 iPhone 7 users no longer must choose between charging their device or listening to headphones, thanks to a new case that restores the headphone jack to its rightful place.

Getting a headphone jack back on the iPhone 7 comes at the cost of some serious bulk, but with Incipio’s new OX case, at least you won’t have to carry around a dongle anymore.

OWC’s gigantic dock adds more ports to the new MacBook Pro

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OWC's dock adds serious bulk to the MacBook Pro.
OWC's dock adds serious bulk to the MacBook Pro.
Photo: OWC

CES2017 MacBook Pro owners that wish Apple included more ports alongside the Touch Bar can now have the best of both worlds — if they don’t mind slapping a huge dock on their machines.

OWC teased a new accessory called the DEC dock for MacBook Pro at CES, the monstrous gadget show happening in Las Vegas this week. The dock is comically large, but it adds a bevy of new features to the MacBook Pro, including extra storage.

iPad art graces cover of latest New Yorker

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Jorge Colombo drew the New Yorker cover on iPad Pro.
Jorge Colombo drew the New Yorker cover on iPad Pro.
Photo: The New Yorker

Want proof you can get “real” work done on the iPad Pro? Look no further than the latest cover of The New Yorker.

Long-time art editor Jorge Colombo drew the latest cover using the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the app Procreate. It’s not the first time art created on the iPad has been featured by the popular magazine, but it’s certainly the best looking one yet.

Even better, you can watch Colombo draw the cover.

Get the touchscreen MacBook that Apple will never make

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Stop waiting for Apple to put a touchscreen on the Mac.
Stop waiting for Apple to put a touchscreen on the Mac.
Photo: Neonode

CES2017 MacBook Air owners patiently waiting for Apple to come out with a touchscreen laptop can now take matters into their own hands: A new product called AirBar turns the laptop’s display into a touchscreen.

Neonode, the company that created AirBar, unveiled the new sensor — which is specifically designed for the 13-inch MacBook Air — at CES, the world’s largest electronic show taking place in Las Vegas this week.

From tiny innovations to big brawls, this is how Apple rolled in 2016

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Thank Jobs, 2016 is finally over!
Thank Jobs, 2016 is finally over!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

2016 Year in Review Cult of Mac 2016 sent Apple for a wild ride full of fantastic new products, crazy controversies and tons of extra drama with its rivals.

Tim Cook and his colleagues probably can’t wait to jump into 2017. But before we start looking toward Apple’s future, let’s take a quick look back at all the stories that made 2016 a year Apple fans will never forget.

New iMessage hack lets you crash friends’ iPhones via text message

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iPhone
It's really easy to crash other people's iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A new nefarious text message has been discovered that has the power to completely crash iPhones, even those running the latest version of iOS 10.

Instead of using infected links or weird text like previous iMessage hacks, this new one allows attackers to disable a person’s Messages app by simply sending a large contact file. When iPhone users tap on the file, it’s so big and complicated that it overloads the CPU and crashes the app.

Watch the hack in action:

Watch what happens when an iPhone drowns in molten aluminum

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This isn't your normal stress test.
This isn't your normal stress test.
Photo: The Backyard Scientist

Apple’s iPhone empire has been made possible thanks to the magic of aluminum. But under certain circumstances, Jony Ive’s favorite metal can be the iPhone’s worst enemy.

The folks behind the YouTube channel Backyard Scientists decided to see what happens when you dunk the iPhone in molten aluminum. Seeing the iPhone get a Terminator 2 type of death is oddly beautiful.

Check it out: